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Trust & Maximising Web Sales

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By: NMK Created on: February 3rd, 2005
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In broadband Britain we mistrust! That's the jist of a recent survey into online customer attitudes. On what grounds, and how can we turn browsers into buyers, asks Andrew Dunkerley?

In broadband Britain we mistrust! That’s the jist of a recent survey into online customer attitudes. On what grounds? And how can we maximise websites turning browsers into buyers, asks Andrew Dunkerley…

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Christmas 2004 saw internet shopping coming of age, as more people than ever before shopped for their presents online. According to the Interactive Media Retail Group (IMRG), the online shopping industry body, British internet sales increased by 50% in the run up to Christmas compared with 2003. The IMRG estimates that by 2010 about 30% of all shopping will be done online.

Now that around 13 million households are connected to the Web, it’s clear that companies without an effective commercial website are going to be increasingly outgunned by more Web-savvy rivals.

Yet despite the increasing popularity of online shopping, marketers shouldn’t rest on their laurels. A recent survey of 500 people by www.motorinsurance.co.uk revealed that around half still found buying online “annoying” or “difficult”. As a consequence, they turned to the phone or the high street to complete a purchase after first researching online.

Clearly vendors still have some work to do to convince online customers that their websites can securely handle credit and debit card purchases. Also, it’s important that the customer feels that the order has been successfully placed. Our survey found customers complaining that they just weren’t sure when an order had been successfully placed online.

Security writ large

Naturally, it is only by making the online purchasing process simple, efficient and secure that businesses can get the maximum revenues from their websites. If the back end systems of websites are capable of taking customers through from initial enquiry to placed order without human intervention, this much more cost efficient sales process increases company profit margins, and increases revenues, as customers don’t go elsewhere to buy.

We found that the single largest complaint against online shopping was that it was not as cheap as respondents expected. People expect a decent discount compared to offline shopping because they have to do quite a lot of work when placing orders. They are also aware that companies save money by selling online and expect these savings to be reflected in lower prices.

So, what can be done to ease the online buying process? First, get the website to be as quick and simple to use as possible. Increasingly, people won’t be content to fill in pages and pages of forms just to make an order. Look at what can be done behind the scenes to speed up ordering.

Next, make online purchasing as secure as possible. Almost 50 per cent of the respondents to our survey were worried about security of buying online. Businesses can reassure customers by purchasing security software. This software prevents people from being able to access customers’ information, including credit or debit card details.

Websites that provide customers with this security can easily be identified by the prefix ‘https’ in their URL, rather than the standard ‘http’, and customers may well look out for this when choosing from which site to buy. In addition, businesses might consider outsourcing the processing of card payments to a firm which specialises in secure transactions.

Inevitably setting up a secure website will cost money. To make the most of this spend, it is important to ensure that customers are aware that any purchases will be secure. An area on the website detailing the security measures in place will go a long way towards relieving shoppers’ fears, and could encourage greater spending.

An effective method of increasing customers’ confidence at no cost is to provide a receipt once the purchase is complete, which can be printed and kept. In this way, customers can feel reassured that they know unequivocally what they have purchased and how much they have paid.

Pathway to prosperity

Even if a site is secure, people still won’t buy goods or services it if it isn’t easy to use. Key to the attractiveness of a site is ease of navigation. If customers can’t find what they want in just a few seconds we’ve learnt that they soon go elsewhere.

To aid movement around the site, the navigation bar should be clear and remain in the same place as people move from one page to the next. Adding search boxes is a good idea to help users find quickly what they’re after.

Another factor which needs to be considered is the number of ‘clicks’ it takes to complete a transaction. Although broadband is growing in popularity, an estimated 9 million households are still on dial-up connections, not broadband. With slower connection rates, customers find it infuriating to wait repeatedly for pages to update, or the next page to upload. Therefore, businesses must keep page changes to a minimum.

The human safety net

We found that lack of human interaction is also a key aspect in deterring shoppers from buying online. When people complain about lack of human interaction what they mean is that there is no-one available to answer questions. Making the buying process as straightforward as it can be, and providing explicit written instructions, will reduce the number of customer queries. Common enquiries should also be pre-empted and the answers provided via a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ page.

Regardless of how detailed a FAQ page is, there will always be questions which cannot be foreseen. Equally, no matter how secure or simple a site is, some people will still feel more comfortable purchasing over the phone. To maximise sales, therefore, it isn’t enough for a business to simply improve its website. A phone number should always be provided on the site along with the option to speak to a salesperson or adviser. Make sure that you have enough people, perhaps via a call centre, to handle these telephone queries.

About the Author:

Andrew Dunkerley is Managing Director of motor insurance quote finder Motorinsurance.co.uk. A member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Andrew read Business Studies at University before moving into Financial Services and has been MD of Motorinsurance.co.uk for two years. He has also been a Director of A Quote Insurance Services for the past 15 years, and is in charge of a projected advertising spend of £7 million in 2005.

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